Oneshots of the Grey Warden's Adventures
by NinjaEeveeKitty
Summary: Oneshots of my elf Warden, Carand Surana, and the kind of things he goes through, from his Harrowing to little snippets between the main adventures. Rated T for cursing, and lots of it. Eventual Carand/Morrigan, kinda.
1. Impending Doom at the Harrowing

Cullen Rutherford's hands were sweaty and shaking, and he had a sense of impending doom in his gut. He was overlooking his first Harrowing...and by "overlooking", he meant he'd be the executioner if the apprentice failed. It didn't help that said apprentice was one he admired from afar, Carand Surana. He'd often catch himself staring at the elf, but he quickly put that out of his mind and reminded himself that if Carand failed, he's have to kill him to keep the demon from escaping.

He wondered how First Enchanter Irving and Knight Commander Greagoir would be able to tell if Carand succeeded. His hands were now shaking more. His sword felt heavy and awkward in his grip, even still sheathed. He didn't want to have to put down a mage, but he reminded himself that he would do it to protect the greater good.

He snapped to attention when Irving walked in with Carand. Carand still wore his apprentice robes, and didn't wear the silly hat that some mages did. Good. Carand's hair was probably too long to even fit under it.

"Are you ready, Carand?" Irving asked, even though there was no going back now. But Carand nodded quickly.

"Been ready." Cullen believed it.

"Then step to the lyrium and begin," Irving commanded. Carand did so, then collapsed. Cullen tensed up, at ready to draw his sword at any moment. After a long and grueling time, Irving nodded.

"He's passed. The demon is gone."

Everyone seemed to relax at this, so Cullen did too. But one hand stayed on his sword's hilt until Carand was carried out of the room.

"...You did a good job," Greagoir stated to him. "Even if it was not needed this time, it's good to see someone willing to step in and slay whatever demon may appear."

Oh how little he knew.


	2. The Road to Ostagar

Carand Surana sniffled a little, bundled in his cloak. Under it, his mage robes were filthy, torn, and burnt from fighting his way to the phylactery room. He had a harsh limp and many obvious injuries, but didn't complain. Duncan glanced over at him.

"We can rest, if you need to," he offered. The small and not at all intimidating recruit shook his head.

"N-no, we can keep going..." Carand replied quickly, pulling his cloak a bit more around himself. Duncan stopped, and Carand did too.

"Nonesense. There's no rush, we have plenty of time to get to Ostagar. And you have injuries that need to be tended to," Duncan pointed out. Carand looked down at himself.

"...Well, yeah...I guess I do have a _few_ wounds...but I can heal it myself, we don't need to stop," Carand tried to argue. Duncan would have none of that and glanced into the forest. A little ways away was a clearing with a hill, that would be a great spot to set up camp.

"Follow me." Duncan began walking to the clearing. Carand hurried to follow him, still limping. Duncan waited for him to catch up. "Think you can make it to the top of the hill?"

"Y-yes." Carand began walk-limping up the hill. To Duncan's surprise, he actually made it up. Duncan got to the top as well and began setting up camp. Carand slowly sat down and began healing his wounds.

After a while and after Carand had gotten most of his wounds healed, he suddenly stopped.

"D-did you hear that?" he asked, voice still shaking. Duncan shook his head; he had missed whatever Carand had heard. "It c-came from the woods."

Duncan glanced around, but the gloom of dusk had settled over everything and made it difficult to see. He then looked back at Carand. "You forget that you're with the Grey Warden Commander. Anything that approaches will have to deal with me first."

"B-but what if there are bears, or-or wolves, or-" Carand rambled. Duncan mentally cursed the Chantry and templars for instilling so much fear of the outside world into such a clearly capable mage.

"Again, they'll have to deal with me first," he repeated. "Just rest and regain your strength. There's nothing to worry about."

Carand thought this over for a moment. Duncan could have sworn he saw the gears working in Carand's head. Finally, the young mage nodded and scooted into the tent. Duncan smiled and kept watch, letting Carand rest.


	3. Carnival

"Come on Alistair!" Carand Surana called, grinning and waving. Alistair, once again, drew a connection between the mage and the dog. He jogged to catch up - no easy feat in armor through snow during winter, mind you.

"Why do you want to go to this carnival anyway?" Alistair asked when he caught up, then paused to catch his breath. Carand's reply made him stop.

"I've never been to one before! I never actually left the Circle Tower before Duncan recruited me, actually..."

Alistair mentally sighed, then straightened. "Right, sorry, forgot about that...but you're sure you want to go to this?"

"Positive!" was Carand's cheeky reply. Alistair smiled a bit.

"Then let's go."

That was easier said than done, as Carand stopped every few minutes to jump in a snowdrift or stare at a wild animal going about its daily business. Each time, Alistair persuaded him to keep going, and they covered a bit more ground. They eventually got to the carnival, and Carand looked around with wide eyes at all the booths and rides.

"This is amazing!" he stated in awe. "I was missing out on a lot, huh?" Alistair could only nod, feeling a familiar sense of dread creep up in him that warned him that someone who was tainted was close. Carand walked off, apparently oblivious to the nearby taint.

Alistair followed, looking around carefully for any sign of darkspawn. Luckily, he didn't see any while he was there, so he could focus on keeping an eye on Carand to make sure he didn't get into trouble...mostly keeping him from eating so much sugar that he'd be sick. Eventually, the sun began to set, and Alistair had to break some news to Carand.

"We have to head back to camp now, Carand," he informed.

"Oh, okay!" Carand replied, only sounding a little disappointed. Alistair smiled a bit and led the way back to the camp.


	4. Ambush

Leliana wasn't expecting their adventuring party to get ambushed. Yet, they did, by a very large group of darkspawn. It didn't help that they left most of their heavy-hitters at camp (those being Sten and, arguably, Alistair) and just brought Oghren. Who was "drunk off his tits" to put it lightly.

"Surana, you'd better have a plan," Morrigan called to the Grey Warden. Leliana glanced at the young mage, who was frowning and already reaching for his staff.

"Haven't gotten that far, Morrigan," Carand Surana called back, pulling his staff off of his back. It was twisted, and Leliana couldn't tell where the steel ended and the wood began. He seemed to have a great affinity for that staff, because, despite them getting better gear, he kept using it.

Carand smacked a hurlock over the head with it, which clearly confused it. He kept smacking it. Leliana stabbed a hurlock that tried to get behind him, then stood back-to-back with him. It helped that Carand learned a few offensive spells besides just Arcane Bolt, and that Leliana's daggers were enchanted to the sky and back. Leliana stabbed another hurlock. Meanwhile, Morrigan was clearly getting a kick out of fighting on her own, using as many highly-volatile spells as possible. Oghren was just swinging his axe, but that worked too.

"MORRIGAN, ONE ON YOUR SIX!" Carand called. Morrigan drew a dagger that Alistair had insisted she carried and stabbed the genlock. Leliana kicked a shriek in the dick, which worked for some unknown reason. Leliana ducked a swipe of a genlock's axe, which caught Carand across the top of his back. He cried out in pain, but stayed upright and fighting. Morrigan blasted the genlock with lightning, livid. The remaining darkspawn retreated after that.

"Carand, are you okay?" Morrigan asked. Leliana raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine. Just need a quick healing spell," Carand replied, already casting that.

"You need to pay more attention to what's around you in battle, Surana, or one of the few people that can destroy the Archdemon will die in a very embarrassing way...like from poison or something," Morrigan lectured. Carand laughed a bit shakily.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. But we gotta keep going," Carand pointed out, already walking again and taking a drunk Oghren with him. Leliana lagged behind to speak with Morrigan.

"Didn't expect you to be the kind that worried...about even the fate of Ferelden," Leliana began.

"It's either leaving it to him, or leaving it to Alistair. I'm picking him because he's more competent than that ex-templar recruit," Morrigan deadpanned.

"Uh huh. And it's all about that. You don't...harbor feelings for him? At all?" Leliana pried.

"I refuse to comment."

"You do! You like him!"

"If you keep insisting on continuing this conversation, I will turn you into something small and quiet. Like a rat."

"Alright, alright, fine. You win this time."


	5. Mage Banter

"Hey Morrigan?" Carand Surana asked out of the blue one night at camp, startling the Witch of the Wilds into looking up from her book. The light from the campfire perfectly illuminated Carand's face, unlike Morrigan, who still stayed cloaked in shadows.

"Yes, Surana?" she acknowledged.

"What was being an apostate like?"

Morrigan had to resist the urge to glare at the teenager. He was looking at her with big, wondering eyes. She slowly exhaled. "Do you really wish to know?"

Carand nodded excitedly. "Yeah!"

"Well, once you get past the Templars attempting to capture us and throw us into those Circle Towers they have everywhere, it was actually an interesting experience. I was able to change my shape and experience the world in many different forms. It was very useful magic."

"I'd bet! I wish I could change my shape," Carand said wistfully. Morrigan raised an eyebrow at the other mage.

"Truly?"

"Yeah! It sounds so fun and incredible! Not boring, like being a spirit healer."

Morrigan smirked internally at what reaction Wynne would have had, had the elder woman heard what he said. "Perhaps I can teach you, then, if you are so interested in the power."

Carand's eyes lit up, and Morrigan had to keep from smiling at how happy he seemed. "Yes, please, thank you!" She held up a finger.

"On one condition, however."

Carand tilted his head. "What?"

" _You_ go into the Fade during the ritual and confront the demon possessing Connor," Morrigan said. It clicked for Carand.

"Oh, I get it, it's like a the Harrowing test, to see what I've learned!"

"Exactly," Morrigan confirmed, smiling slightly. "Go into the Fade and fight a demon with what you've learned. 'Tis normal for Circle Mages, if I understand correctly."

"Well, actually...after our Harrowing, not many of us fight demons again...but I won't back off just because of that!" Carand declared.


	6. Old Books and Memories

Morrigan walked through the destroyed Mage Tower, looking for Carand Surana. He had come in with Oghren and Leliana, but he hadn't come back out. Morrigan quickly reminded herself that she was _not_ worried, she just wanted to make sure Carand wasn't too injured to fight the Archdemon, as that battle was coming soon.

There were a few doorways that were collapsed, and Morrigan finally spotted Oghren snoring on the ground. Well, at least the dwarf was okay.

"Morrigan! Over here!" Morrigan looked in the direction of the voice to see Carand running up. His robe was torn and shredded, and there was even a small fire on his shoulder and dirt on his face, but he wasn't visibly injured.

"What happened to you?" she inquired.

"A few abominations, some blood mages, and a sloth demon. But I defeated it!" Carand boasted. "Um...not on my own, of course, but I did help damage it. I even turned into a bear!"

Morrigan smiled and applauded. "So you were actually paying attention during your lessons. _And_ you even used it in a fight."

"Yeah!" Carand was so happy that he was bouncing with excitement. "And the basement's still intact, too. There's plenty of things down there that we can use that they won't notice are missing."

Morrigan chuckled. "I like the way you think. Let us go get these supplies then."

Carand led the way down to the basement storage rooms, and they split up to search. Carand picked up an old tome of some sort and closed his eyes.

"I just love the smell of old books...I don't know why though."

"It's the breakdown of the paper, which makes it smell sweet," Morrigan informed. Carand still had his eyes closed.

"Reminds me of...something...maybe my old home, back before the templars took me..." He gently put the book down and looked around. "It's a shame I was too young to remember my family."

"Perhaps 'tis for the best. You were likely from an Alienage," Morrigan muttered.

"But what if I find my family and don't know who they are?" Carand asked.

"They never bothered to reach out to you while you were in the Circle Tower, yes?" Morrigan asked.

"They _couldn't_ , the templars wouldn't allow it. That's why...that's why you're lucky that you're an apostate," Carand mumbled, picking through a pile of discarded robes.

"...I see..." Morrigan tucked a few books into her bag. "I think we've gotten everything we can from here."

"Then I'll go get Leliana and Oghren and Wynne," Carand stated. Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "Um, Senior Enchanter Wynne. She taught me when I was really little."

"I see. And she's leaving the tower with us?" Morrigan inquired. Carand nodded. "Then let us leave as soon as possible."


	7. Intimidation (Witch Hunt DLC)

Carand Surana scowled as he looked over the reports of a woman matching Morrigan's description. He remembered the night that Morrigan had made him go through the ritual, then disappeared. That night was two and a half years prior, but he remembered it like it was yesterday. He stood up.

"Tell King Alistair that I have something I need to attend to," he ordered the soldier that had brought the reports. "Dismissed." The soldier scrambled out of the office. Carand stood up and grabbed his staff, the same twisted one that he'd taken from the Circle Tower's basement storage room when he was still a Circle Mage. He briefly wondered about the fates of Jowan and Lily before pushing the thought out of his mind. He turned and left the office, whistling for his dog, Rabbit, to follow him.

===

After stopping at Flemeth's hut and allying himself with the Dalish hunter Ariane, he headed to the rebuilt Circle Tower in hopes of discovering Morrigan's plan and hunting her down. He opened the doors, glaring at the templars, and headed into the library. He paged through a few books before finding some that could help.

"Um, hello! Didn't expect to see anyone here..."

Carand turned to see a mage who was practically quaking in his boots. Carand forced a smile on his face.

"We're just doing research on something that was taken from Ariane's clan. Think you can help us?"

"Oh, um, yeah, sure. I'm Finn, by the way. I-I've heard all about you, you're the killer of Urthemiel," Finn stuttered. Carand chuckled.

"So, how can you help?" Carand inquired.

"I-I found something, in the basement, a statue of Eleni Zinovia that can help," Finn explained. Carand frowned a bit.

"Eleni. Yes, I remember speaking to her. Let's go have a chat with a statue, then."

===

They were getting close to the end. Carand almost had tunnel vision, focusing on finding Morrigan, when Finn muttered something that he didn't catch.

"What was that?" he asked, trying to keep the intimidation to a minimum.

"U-uh, I, um...I said...n-nothing scares me more th-than you," Finn replied quickly. The corner of Carand's mouth twitched.

"Huh. Never thought of myself as intimidating."

"U-um, y-you are. Very."

The stuttering, the shaking voice, the quivering...so much of Finn at this moment reminded Carand of his younger self. His expression softened. "I'm sorry. I'll keep that in mind."

Finn looked at him like he was nuts as he turned and kept walking. Ariane, who had watched this whole exchange, raised an eyebrow but remained quiet and followed Carand. Finn scrambled to catch up.


	8. Happily Ever After? (Witch Hunt DLC)

"No further, please. One more step and I leave. For good, this time." It broke Morrigan's heart to say that to the elven mage she loved, despite the years that had passed. Carand Surana stopped.

"There's no need to run, Morrigan..." he said softly. "What is this?"

"I assume you know what this is," Morrigan said in place of an answer. "I have gone to great lengths to find and activate this portal. You will not be able to follow if I find reason to use it."

"Then why haven't you left yet, if that's true?" Carand demanded.

"I remained because I sensed your approach. You kept the ring," Morrigan reminded. "Tell me, why did you come?"

"I couldn't let it end like that. I came for the woman I love. And for my child," Carand listed. "Where is he or she?"

"He is safe, beyond your reach. All you need know is that the child is an innocent. He knows nothing of the destiny that lies before him. My plan is to leave, and prepare the child for what is to come. Such preparation requires time. And power. I must have both if I am to be successful. More than this, I dare not say. Even to you."

"Even after all we've been through?" Carand demanded.

"Yes. 'Tis Flemeth you should beware of, not me. Hunt her, if you hunt anyone," Morrigan informed.

"Flemeth is dead."

"My mother has tricked her way past death and more. She is no more finished than I am. I thought I knew what Flemeth planned. I thought what she craved was immortality. And yet I was wrong. So very wrong. She is no blood mage, no abomination... She is not even truly human. The ritual was but a means to an end, a herald for what is to come."

"What's going to happen, then?" Carand inquired.

"Change is coming to the world. Many fear change and will fight it with every fiber of their being. But sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes change is what sets them free."

"Is that what you want?" Carand asked. "To be free?"

Morrigan swallowed, then spoke. "What I want...is unimportant now. I cannot tarry longer. The time has come fro me to go." What Carand said next shocked her.

"Take me with you."

"You...cannot know what you ask. 'Twould be better if you stayed. For you, for us both."

"I want to be with you. No matter what," Carand vowed. Morrigan smiled - legitimately smiled.

"Then come, my love. We will face the future together."

Carand walked up to be next to her. Morrigan leaned in and kissed him, realizing that a dull ache she'd had was now gone. She pulled away, the two held hands, and they stepped through the portal into the future together.


End file.
